Microsoft To Cut Thousands Of Jobs – Report

Potentially more bad news for the tech industry, after a number of media reports suggested that Microsoft is about to undertake a job purge.

Sky News has reported that Microsoft is finalising plans to cut thousands of jobs, with some roles expected to be eliminated in human resources and engineering divisions.

If true, Microsoft will join a host of other tech firms such as HP, Meta, Amazon, Salesforce, Twitter etc in carrying out large scale workforce reductions amid a worsening global economy.

Job losses

According to Sky News, citing unnamed sources, Microsoft plans to cut about 5 percent of its 221,000 strong workforce. This equates to roughly 11,000 jobs.

It was also unclear how many UK-based positions might be affected.

Microsoft currently has a market value of $1.78tn and is due to report second-quarter earnings next week.

If the job cuts are finalised soon, it is expected that CEO Satya Nadella may announced the headcount reductions before the earnings call.

Responding to an inquiry from Sky News, a spokesman said Microsoft “does not comment on rumour or speculation.”

Meanwhile Microsoft plans to cut jobs in a number of engineering divisions on Wednesday, Bloomberg News reported, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The cuts will be significantly larger than other rounds in the past year, the Bloomberg report said.

Business Insider, citing a person familiar with the matter, that Microsoft could cut recruiting staff by as much as one-third.

Again Microsoft declined to comment on the reports.

Microsoft had 221,000 full-time staff, including 122,000 in the United States and 99,000 internationally, as of 30 June, according to filings.

Previous cuts

It should be noted that Microsoft has already made a number of job cuts during 2022.

In May 2022 a senior Microsoft executive warned the management of the Windows and Office divisions to adopt a more conservative approach to hiring new people.

Then in early July 2022 Microsoft cut less than 1 percent of jobs as part of an annual structural adjustment, which it said was routinely carried out every summer.

Later that same month Microsoft began withdrawing job openings in its Azure and security divisions, as its hiring slowdown extends to other divisions.

Then in October Microsoft confirmed a second round of job losses (reportedly under 1,000 jobs) across multiple divisions but did not confirm actual numbers let go.

Microsoft at the time blamed weaker sales of Windows licenses for PCs, as the economy weakened and PC shipments continued to fall.